Final Opinions Of Our Regular Season

Don't have time today to get into detail here but I wanted to start the thread so we can have a couple of days to kick this around before we start talking about our first playoff series.

What's our final final thoughts on the regular season. I made this a poll, just to quantify it a bit, but I'm really more interested in your fleshier opinions. The coaching, the starters, the bench, whatever you want. The poll should reflect your overall satisfaction level. If you want to grade each piece (see short list above), and I encourage that, then do that in your post.

I'll join in this in my usual excessively verbose way when nobody's cracking a whip over me, like they are today.

Vote cancelling allowed. You can change your opinion.
Multiple choice is not allowed unless you're certifably schizofrenic and each voice insists they be heard. If that is the case then please be clear which personality doing the talking.


Bob


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Hi,
I voted "4". I expected a little bit more from this team. They could really do without those 3-4 horrific losses.

AK

The 57 win season blows away my preseason guestimate of 53.75 wins.  Based on that, a 9 seems about right.  I would have given them a 10 if they won 60 games.

I am not passing out any grades here.  I will make some general observations and I will try to be fair minded.

Our top guns each had career years.  Marcus had a career year in assists,  Grant had a career year in scoring, rebounding and assists.  

Derrick White played like a guy that you would move players and a first rounder for.  He has had a very impressive season and led all NBA guards with an 11.0 net rating.  He really does everything well.

New Edition, Malcolm Brogdon did not disappoint.  He was 3rd in scoring on the team and is well deserving of being named 6th man of a year, an award most fitting for a Celtics player.

AH made the most of his minutes while missing all B2B games.  He has reached a level of perfection while playing the stretch 4/5  spot in our offense.  His veteran leadership was in full effect through the season especially when the team hit a rough patch or two.

RW missed a ton of games due to injuries but he remains in a class all by himself in terms of his impact.  Am I seeing a little more air under his hops?  This young man has a high BIQ.  His value greatly enhances the teams chance to win the championship because without him we just do not have another big that can do the things that he can do at both ends of the court.

Last year Sam Hauser only average 2.1 MPG during the playoffs where he came off the bench in 7 games total.  This year he has turn into a dangerous sniper from distance, improved noticeably on defense (on the ball, mirroring the offensive player) and worked his way through his own tough patch.  I think he has earned rotation minutes going into the playoffs.

Veteran and former elite Blake Griffin is a player I really did not know much about outside of his dominating performances earlier in his career.  He's our PJ Brown with a bit more spice.  He has defined the true meaning of veteran leadership because there have been a lot of games that they could have played him.  He never complained he never went against the grain and he consistently gave us everything he had to give even with limited opportunities.  The players on this team love Blake Griffin.

PP has been a 4th wheel on a tricycle.  Playing behind 3 PG's all   6' 4" with length and scoring abilities has stymied his opportunity to play.  He remains a quality shooter and is probably our fastest end to end player that plays with pace on the break and in our half court sets. He's no scrub.  He just needs an opportunity to contribute.

Kornet has size and sometimes he uses it and other times he does not.  In other word sometimes he helped us and sometimes he hurts us.  He played because we needed another center with RW missing 47 games.  

Muscala is a a guy who probably plays better with increased minutes.  He managed to average almost 6 PPG and he shot 38.5% from deep.  He gave us exactly what Brad was looking for.

Coach CJ has gone through an evolution of sorts.  His game management skills have improved significantly.  His media sessions no longer include snide remarks and other types of comments that sound defensive.  Brad Stevens in a recent interview mentioned that over the past 2 months Joe has been coaching his way including changing runs by calling timeouts or not.  Our offensive is better because of him.  We have seen better ball movement, more off screen actions and more cuts to the basket.  Both our Pace and Fastbreak scoring are up year over year.  Even though our best big defender missed 47 games, the Celtics still managed to finish 2nd in defensive rating.  

Brad Stevens did a tremendous job adding more quality depth to the team.  Malcolm Brogdon is a flat out baller.  Muscala provides a very similar shooting ability from the outside that AL give us. Blake reflect a level of veteran depth that every top team cherishes. MB was a big splash trade. Maybe he could have added a better rebounding and defensive center.  If RW stays ready to play during the playoffs our big man depth is more than enough to win the title.  That is the one and only uncertainty that I have.